All entries on Feminist Legal Clinic’s News Digest Blog are extracts from news articles and other publications, with the source available at the link at the bottom. The content is not originally generated by Feminist Legal Clinic and does not necessarily reflect our views.
Ashley Boyd carried out testicular examinations which were not within his job description, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) fitness to practice panel heard this month.
Boyd was a chair of Swindon and Wiltshire Pride from September 2022 to March 2023.
Boyd was also chair of the trust’s LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) network in 2022.
He qualified as an adult nurse in July 2019 and worked as a band five adult nurse at the hospital.
He was not a qualified children’s nurse but requested to work in the paediatric area of the emergency department.
He was rostered on as a triage nurse in the paediatric assessment unit when the incidents happened.
His job was to gather basic medical information and observe things like heart rate and blood pressure, but the panel heard he carried out testicular examinations which were not part of his role.
Source: Swindon nurse carried out unnecessary intimate exams on children
The headline on this article (decided upon by sub-editor of BBC News) is so deceptive. At least there’s a photograph that tells the truth, but the headline ought to indicate that it’s a male nurse. Sadly as soon as one sees ‘nurse’ in the headline, and due to the realities of nursing as traditionally a female role, one automatically thinks it’s a woman whose engaged in the egregious conduct. So many may not go past the headline, so they remain with a distorted image in their heads – this will be used in arguments by people who want to say ‘women are just as bad as men’ in this category of criminal activity.